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Conservative common sense with the volume set at 9!

This week President Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Obama/Kerry nuclear agreement with Iran.

It was, like most Trump foreign-policy speeches, brief, direct and common-sensible, putting America’s security and interests first. He pulled no punches, calling the original deal “a great embarrassment to me as a citizen and to all citizens of the United States.”

Trump made a concise, compelling case for dumping the agreement. But he added one potent paragraph at the end of his speech that was even more significant:

Finally, I want to deliver a message to the long-suffering people of Iran: The people of America stand with you. It has now been almost 40 years since this dictatorship seized power and took a proud nation hostage. Most of Iran’s 80 million citizens have sadly never known an Iran that prospered in peace with its neighbors and commanded the admiration of the world. But the future of Iran belongs to its people. They are the rightful heirs to a rich culture and an ancient land and they deserve a nation that does justice to their dreams, honor to their history, and glory to their god.

We now have a president who understands the human value of self-determination that Americans share. He gets it. And as his presidency evolves, more people around the world will get it, too.

Despite the “resistance” of his short-sighted adversaries, Trump will make his mark of freedom around the world, without spilling American blood and wasting our hard-earned wealth. Eventually Iran’s people will overrule their despotic leaders and rejoin the free and modern community of nations. North Korea will follow suit. Venezuela will not be far behind, and recent cultural progress in Saudi Arabia holds promise for the defeat of Muslim extremism and the expansion of personal freedoms across the Middle East.

We Americans have often assumed that our success is a direct result of our unique form of government. No doubt, to this point the design and execution of our democratic republic has been a major contributor to our growth and prosperity. But the details and nuances of how our government works is secondary to the single, underpinning belief that we hold most dear – above all else we Americans treasure our personal freedoms.

President Trump’s work toward eliminating the nuclear threats in Iran and North Korea is much more than a military exercise. The people of these nations, and others, may soon realize that our president is helping them gain their freedom.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You can knock me down and watch me bleed
But you can’t keep no chains on me.

My conservative friends and I become more and more baffled every day at the logic-defying behavior and attitudes of our leftist brethren.

Today’s news features yet another protest march – ostensibly inspired by school kids, but in reality organized, funded and scripted by hard left political organizations, and super-hyped by their allies in the news media.

It is just one more of the many provocations by today’s Democrats we endure day-by-day, hour-by-hour, demanding that we all must do something that doesn’t make any sense. When confronted with one of these absurdly irrational arguments I go through a head-shaking mental check-down. In this case:

How do we responsible, licensed gun owners have “blood on our hands” whenever a criminal perpetrates a crime?

Assault is already illegal. Does adding more laws make it even more illegal?

Criminals, by definition, break laws. Does limiting gun rights for everybody make criminals less likely to break the law?

The left seizes every opportunity to protect criminals and to hamstring and disrespect law enforcement. How can they be surprised when more crimes happen?

The students who shoot up their classmates are almost always from fatherless homes. Why is the left so hell-bent on destroying the nuclear family and lauding single-motherhood?

And why aren’t these protester kids in school? Do their school boards sanction political indoctrination without the participation or consent of parents? Is this just the tip of the indoctrination iceberg?

I recently had an extended conversation on gun rights and school safety with an anti-gun group called “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America“. Well, it wasn’t really a conversation – a thinking person’s concept of conversation is that it requires listening as well as speaking. Leftists never listen. My logical challenges to their lengthy list of vapid talking points went completely unanswered.

One of the “Moms” told me directly that I should not be trusted to carry a concealed weapon. She said if a terrorist or mentally ill person came in shooting the place up, she would try to talk him out of hurting anybody. She absolutely did not want me to protect her with my gun under any circumstances.

My head physically shakes again just remembering it. You see, I grew up in a world where some truths are just obvious. If you bang yourself in the head with a rock, it will hurt. Nothing can convince me otherwise. But somehow, today’s Democrats have convinced a large number of Americans that a rock on the head is a good thing.

Pick your rock. Should we invite everybody in the world to come and live here, no questions asked? Ouch, not good. Should we encourage our young children to choose the gender they want to be? Dang, that’s gonna hurt. Should we categorize and make assumptions about people based on their skin pigmentation? Ooh, that’s gonna leave a mark. Should we let anybody vote, any time and anywhere, without even asking for identification? Oww!

No wonder my head hurts every time I turn on the news.

Tom Balek, Rockin’ On the Right Side

I got the boys to make the noise
Won’t ever let up, hope it annoys you!
Join the pack, fill the crack
Well now you’re here, there’s no way back

I was with Congressman Ralph Norman Friday morning for his “coffee visit” town hall at the Rock Hill Diner. When we went to the reserved area, a group of women in red t-shirts (Moms Demand Action) planted across from us, intent on dominating the event with their radical anti-gun agenda. They claimed that they are not anti-2nd amendment, but as the discussion developed, their talking points turned toward hard-left “Resist” statements, i.e. anti-Trump, pro-abortion, anti-gun rights, etc.

Many of their arguments and claims were naive if not childish, often without any factual basis, even just plain false. I was seated next to Ralph and defending gun rights. While we agreed on some points, we countered other claims and demands with reason and facts, and the activists grew more frustrated and aggressive. They demonstrated little knowledge about firearms, gun law, law enforcement, legislative process, etc. They even tried presenting a fake news item and we proved it was untrue.

At one point I told one of the activists, “I am a concealed carrier, and if a terrorist came in that door shooting the place up, I would defend you. Doesn’t that give you comfort?” Incredibly, she said NO! She doesn’t believe I should be allowed to own a gun, and said she would prefer to “talk it out” with the terrorist. That’s when the congressman was asked by another attendee if he is also a concealed carrier. Norman reached into his jacket, pulled out his .38, laid it safely on the table, and stated he is a carrier too, and he would defend himself and them. He said he carries all the time except when he is in Washington, DC and he if anybody comes after him with a gun, he had better be a good shot, because he will be shooting back. The gun wasn’t exposed more than a minute or two.

Nobody was intimidated. Nobody was afraid. Our photo, published in the Rock Hill Herald, shows everybody smiling. Congressman Norman was calm, affable, warm and gentle with these ladies. We all agreed on some of their points. But that wasn’t good enough for them. The congressman did upset one of the ladies by admonishing her for the proliferation of F bombs and other profanity all over her group’s web page. He pointed out that children see Facebook pages too. It is interesting to note that within hours of the incident the Congressman’s Facebook page was filled with vitriol and profanity, some of it from the very people who we met that morning. It appears that these messages have since been “scrubbed”.

After their failed attempt to bully the Congressman, the “Moms” ran directly from the diner to the newspaper office, and their embellished story was printed as gospel by the press. It hit the wires and was instantly viral in the national news media.

Congressman Norman made a statement on his Facebook page, but already the national “Resist” movement had been mobilized, filling his page with expletives, F bombs, and ugly hatred. Norman asked me to help develop a response, and with some media-savvy friends from DC we worked out a plan which has been fairly well received. You have probably seen his second response . We have been getting good support from conservative groups around the country. We set up an interview on Fox and Friends for Monday morning.

This is a pivotal moment for defense of the 2nd Amendment and the NRA. The “Moms” group is funded by and was sent on this mission by out-of-state money and is, as Norman said, hell-bent on eliminating private gun ownership. We believe they were also accompanied by, if not directed by, one of Archie Parnell’s officials. They pretended to be concerned about child safety, but when I questioned them they defended the murder of 650,000 American babies per year by abortionists (latest available statistics), so it’s clear this is not about children for them.

The clip on the right is an example of the kind of people we face from the left (apologies for the language). It takes no small measure of strength and purpose to run for office against today’s brand of Democrats.

Congressman Norman is absolutely on the right side of this battle, and the radical leftists will find that they picked the wrong target for an ambush.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Don’t take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don’t take your guns to town

Whenever I get a request for a Johnny Cash tune at one of my weekend gigs, I know they are expecting “Folsum Prison Blues”, the standard Cash bar song. But I sing this one instead, the story of a good young man who died defending himself and others against a bad guy.

Everything is hyped and overstated. The political and cultural divide grows wider and deeper by the day. In the jumble and tumble of daily politics and market-driven “news” it’s so hard to stay focused on what is real and important.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes for me all of the posturing and gamesmanship gets to be too much – too damned much to digest and bring to any kind of focus or certainty or closure. Too much grey area and not enough black and white facts. It’s no wonder so many people tune out and continue their lives in blissful disengagement. I’m not able to do that (you probably aren’t either) and I find myself sometimes needing the “click” of a padlock – the binary knowledge that I know something is right, and imperative, period.

About every ten years or so I come full circle back to what I know in my guts to be true about life, and how we as Americans (and for that matter as human beings on planet Earth) are wired to make the right choice and do the right thing. And the path revealed is not political. It always comes back to economics.

To hell with politics. Every human being on the planet – basket weaver in India, farmer in North Dakota, factory worker in China, soldier in North Korea – has this in common: we get up every morning and set out to improve the standard of living for ourselves and our families. Period.

Isn’t this true? Can you disagree? We all want a little bit better life for ourselves and the ones we love. It is a universal truth – a metaphysical fact. Forget religion. Forget political party. Forget culture, education, race, gender, age, nationality. We all want the same thing. Better food. A nicer house. Less hard labor. More quality time with our loved ones.

We, the people of the United States of America, have been a beacon of inspiration and righteous success since our nation’s noisy and unconventional birth. We have improved the standard of living for not only ourselves but also for people all over the world on a quantum scale ever since we became a “thing” in 1776. We have set the standard. We are the land of opportunity, the place to be, the bad go-getters and the mean motor-scooters. We have what it takes. We know what it’s all about.

Don’t we? Lately we aren’t so sure. I mean we did, but do we still?

We Americans have generally credited our political system for our success – our Constitution, our three branches of government with built-in checks and balances, our Bill of Rights, etc. Great. It’s all good. But there’s more to it.

I submit that our American success story is the result of our economic system – free enterprise and free markets, equal opportunity, and minimal government intervention.

Because the truth is: every human being is ruled by self-interest.

It’s not a bad thing. We work hard to provide for our families. We help those in need because we know we may, ourselves, some day need help. We look for ways to meet the wants and needs of others in the market because that will reward us, as well as them.

Some will say that free markets favor the greedy and unscrupulous. But America, born a Christian nation, avoided that problem. We trusted each other. We were raised to be moral, honest citizens. We believed in fairness. Our word was our bond.

As long as America is a Christian nation, and makes decisions based on economic merit, and values honesty, we will be fine. But we must each shoulder our responsibility. For every political issue or question we should consider: will this course of action help improve the standard of living for all Americans? And will it be fair to all Americans?

Anything outside that simple framework just really doesn’t matter. Try looking at any political issue or question in these terms. Improved standard of living + fairness/honesty (Christian morality). The correct path becomes pretty obvious.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I’ve got to get it somewhere
I mean, you never know, maybe
You’re dreaming

Change is inevitable, and we ultimately have to accept it. The hard thing, though, is that change is never smooth, gradual and comfortable. It comes in fits and starts, and is often jarring if not downright scary. We are in one of those scary times.

Even though we have to accept change, we don’t have to like it. And there is a lot of stuff going on that I don’t like.

I don’t like the fact that our economy used to be more fairly balanced, but now there is a huge and growing chasm between the “haves” and “have nots”. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Unrest and violence are not out of the question. Why?

America was once a “melting pot” of people from different backgrounds and abilities who all shared common values and felt a part of something bigger than themselves. Now we have splintered into a balkanized bunch of minorities. And I will point the finger directly at “progressive” political leadership over the last decade or so. The “divide and conquer” strategy used by liberals has worked brilliantly. Democrats have taught everybody to identify with a subgroup and then established victim-hood status for each, promising to save them from everybody else in exchange for votes.

It starts in our schools and colleges, where students from one or more of the victim-groups of poor, non-white or immigrant, non-Christian, gay/trans, single mothers, etc. are vaulted to hero status. Self-esteem is guaranteed to them all without regard to merit. Those born in America with white skin are assumed to be bigots and racists, normal heterosexuals are assumed to be narrow-minded homophobes, and hard-working achievers are assumed to have only succeeded at the expense of others. The “privileged” must sheepishly walk on broken glass in penance and apology to the “victims.”

Worst of all, our education system that once drove students to seek excellence now allows (perhaps encourages) minority students to feed a culture that values being “bad-ass” over being academic. Schools fail to enforce discipline, tolerate or endorse illicit sex and drugs, and openly assail capitalism, patriotism, family values, and Christian religion. Graduation rates plummet as growing numbers of kids would rather avoid learning anything to meet the approval of their peers than work for an educational foundation promising a successful future. Many schools numbly accept poor classroom performance out of fear of being labeled racist. As a result nobody flunks and standards sink to the lowest common denominator. Speaking of common, where is the “rigor” we were promised with the roll-out of Common Core? Employers are frantic at the dearth of trainable graduates.

You may be thinking, “Yeah, but my school is great.” Everybody says that. Look at a couple of textbooks. Sit in on an assembly. K-12 is scary enough. College has become a place for children to abscess and rot.

There will always be a few high achievers, and they will have an ever-easier path to the top as more “victims” fall into the abyss of low expectations. And the Democrats salivate waiting for them at the bottom of the hill with free stuff in one hand and a ballot in the other. The few at the top will be richly rewarded and the masses at the bottom will fight for crumbs from their government. The culture war has only just started, and I can’t envision a happy outcome if we don’t shift our direction.

Bitching about change is easy. Minimizing the damage is hard. Change doesn’t have to be for the worse. We just can’t give in to political correctness, laziness and demagoguery.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through

President Trump’s State of the Union speech included a lengthy “to-do” list: infrastructure improvements, workforce development, secure borders and immigration reform, strengthened military, and much more.

One of President Trump’s “to-do” items grabbed my attention, although I have not seen it mentioned anywhere in the press. Half-way through his epic speech, he said:

All Americans deserve accountability and respect — and that’s what we are giving them. So tonight I call on Congress to empower every cabinet secretary with the authority to reward good workers — and to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American People.

I have long pressed for accountability from government employees. We all know that as the cost of government continues to spiral out of sight, resulting in a $21 trillion debt (and climbing), performance continues to decline. The federal government hires more and more employees, at ever high wages and benefits that far eclipse comparable jobs in the private sector, with no improvement in results. Any work done by the federal government will take much longer and cost much more than the same work done outside the Beltway.

The problem is clear, it is huge, and it is easy to solve: we must eliminate the destructive influence of federal government employee unions.

No business or private organization could survive in an environment where managers can not fire or discipline their employees. And what employer could afford hiring three people for every job just to get the base amount of work done due to minimum five-week vacations, 21+ days of paid sick leave whether used or not, 12 or more holidays, personal leave, six hour (or less) work days, long lunches, protesting time, travel to exotic locales for meetings, “she’s away from her desk” time, etc. Government employees are virtually guaranteed over-market salaries, regular raises, bonuses, Cadillac benefits and lifetime employment regardless of performance. And in many cases the service level to the taxpayers who pay the salaries is disgraceful – witness the abuse of Western landowners at the hands of federal agencies and veterans who die waiting for care at VA hospitals.

Worse yet, the cozy union/Democrat alliance is quid-pro-quo corruption at its worst. Unions collect gargantuan sums of money to be fed directly to the Democrat party, and federal workers vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, who repay the favor to their benefactors. It’s so easy to be generous with somebody else’s money.

Of course there are federal government employees who earn their keep, especially in the armed forces and security agencies. But there are also buildings all across the nation overstuffed with un- or under-productive federal employees and officials who won’t or can’t address the outrageous waste. Meanwhile, competent and cost-effective individuals and companies who could do the work of the people efficiently can’t break through the bureaucracy.

Now is the time to eliminate the federal government employee unions once and for all. I call on Congress and the President to relieve this festering sore on the behind of the taxpayers. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) gets it. He told me, “This could be part of federal right-to-work legislation.”

We are tired of being told that federal spending can’t be cut because it’s just too huge to even bother trying. We demand that our legislators do their jobs, which are setting and administering budgets, appropriating funds, and overseeing agency and department heads. OMB Director Mick Mulvaney and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta must step up. The taxpayers will hold you all accountable as you must hold your federal bureaucrats accountable for efficacious results.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I’m proud to a union man
I make those meetings when I can, yeah
I pay my dues ahead of time
When the benefits come I’m last in line, yeah.

Would you watch a basketball game if nobody kept score? Of course not. If nobody keeps score, nobody wins. If nobody wins, the contestants will lose interest and probably not put in much effort.

Besides, if nobody keeps score, how do you know which team or player is the best?

Okay, I’ll get to the point. When we elect a congressman or a senator, we assume he or she is doing what we want them to do. But are they? Unless you have the time to look up their votes on every issue, you can’t possibly know. And even if you did, you would have to know which votes are important and which are just “show votes”, intended to make a legislator look good even though they don’t really accomplish anything.

Fortunately, there is a great way to measure your congressman’s performance. It’s the Heritage Action Scorecard. Heritage Action is the activist wing of the acclaimed Heritage Foundation, and their aim is to hold members of congress accountable. The Scorecard is the perfect tool. Heritage Action identifies “key” votes – issues which have a direct and important impact on quality of life in America. The scorecard shows how each member voted on every key issue, and accumulates an aggregate score.

My South Carolina congressman, Ralph Norman, has a 95% rating in the current session, which compares to 68% for the average house Republican. That puts him near the top of the pack.

Digging deeper, I can see that only one of his votes did not agree with Heritage Action’s recommendation. The Scorecard makes it easy for me to thank my congressman when I like his vote on an issue, or to ask for justification when we aren’t on the same page. And it sure makes the check-writing decision easier at election time.

As a Montana native I still follow the politics there. I can’t help but notice Senator Jon Tester’s 0% rating. I hope my Big Sky friends are noticing too.

Too many citizens think they have no control over what happens in the nation’s capital. That couldn’t be further from the truth. With a tool like the Heritage Action Scorecard and a telephone, every voter can hold his members of Congress accountable, and can make an informed decision at primary and general election time.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I’m winning
I’m winning
I’m winning
And I don’t intend on losing again